Surviving And Living
by dawdler
Summary: Percy ran away from camp after the Titan war, The Giant War still happened in the same timeline. The demigods encounter him several years later, more details in the summary in chapter 1.


**Percy ran away from camp after the Titan war, The Giant War still happened in the same timeline. The demigods encounter him several years later, more details in the summary in chapter 1.**

 **Note:- Percy's fatal flaw was used against him, which resulted in a disastrous quest. Percy ran away from Camp leaving everything behind. Another hero was part of the seven in place of Percy. Things have been going well for the seven heroes, with monsters attacks at an all time low. Until they encounter Percy several years later.**

 **Percy**

Percy stirred and shivered for the umpteenth time, he has been trying to sleep, huddled beside a smelly dumpster in a narrow lane nearby beach channel, NY. 6 Hours, it is the longest he slept continuously in a while. He could have slept longer except for the cold air hitting him like a tide, wave after wave making him shiver. And the morning traffic isn't helping either.

He was only dressed in a skinny jeans and a white cotton tee shirt, the bitter wind is sending chills down his spine. How could he not remember the chilling wind of new york!. It has been too long he realized.

Being on the run from monsters and vengeful gods alike made his survival a much daunting task, he couldn't relax or take a nap for a prolonged period of time. He always had to be alert and scan his surroundings for exit points or hiding places. He has been doing this since the titan war which now seems like another lifetime when he had a loving mother and a girlfriend. He is doing this for so long now, he can't even remember what year or day it is. Every day is a challenge to get by or scrape through monster attacks. Survival is the key. He has to keep going, he has to. At least a while longer.

Living through these wave of attacks for every single moment of his life, he discerned that fighting monsters head on and trying to kill them won't be enough, each battle he fought drained his energy quickly, which increased the chances of getting himself killed. Food scarcity isn't helping things either. So he avoids a fight instead he is running away or finding a hiding spot(especially shitty one). That is how figured to study his surroundings. He has become so good at it now that he hadn't killed a monster in a month.

That is also how he figured out that the Dumpsters are the best hiding and napping spots despite how disgusting it sounds and smells. He knew that he could have a few hours of rest every day without the danger of monsters smelling him and attacking. He will find the smelliest dumpster in the neighborhood and sleep nearby even though it reminded him of smelly Gabe!.

It became a routine for him now to find the three necessities for his survival, source of water and food, a good hiding spot whenever he moved to a new place. Food was the toughest, as he never could earn money by working and innately bad at stealing, he resorted to scavenging.

He rose to his feet brushing himself off, and picked up his faded blue backpack which doesn't look blue anymore. He trudged along the narrow lane, he came upon the open street bustling with traffic and the sea just beside it.

Based on daylight, he guessed the time might be around 6 or 7 am in the morning. He was dumbfounded by the place, he can't recognize the roads or the buildings anymore. Most of the buildings looked new, but still they were strangely familiar as if he had already seen them in a book somewhere.

He wandered around the channel and the beach re-familiarizing himself, before he knew it was night time again. Feeling tired and hungry from day's exertions, he found an Open-Table grill restaurant and the dumpster where they throw the leftovers. Opentable restaurants are the best!, he could find the freshest food available. As soon as any customer/s leave the table by interruption or completion of the meal, he will swoop in and pick their leftovers. If he couldn't find any he will have to wait till midnight for the hotel to throw out their leftovers and waste.

Percy could see couples enjoying a moment, families drinking and laughing. Happiness and laughter everywhere around him which he can't even afford to think about. In this bustling scene, he noticed a single woman, a cherokee one, sitting alone at a 6 seater table. She looked really pretty, _wow is he crushing on the lady already!._ He blushed to himself looking at her long hair braids and her breathtaking eyes. That is as far as his affections towards woman go though, just crushing on them.

She looked happy eating her burger with gusto, just then her mobile rang, she smiled looking at the screen and arose from her seat and moved to a private area for better audibility. Bingo! Percy made his move.

 **Piper**

"Should i pick you up from office?" asked Jason.

"I am already at the restaurant, Jason. No need to pick me up. " Piper reached the railing facing towards the sea.

"That excited ha?" Jason joked, she giggled.

"Of course, i can't wait to share the news with our friends, and it has been a while since all of us have gathered at one place" Piper gripped the railing to steady herself.

"Yeah, me too, i wish Leo is with usl." Jason replied suddenly nostalgic. They were not able to get in touch with Leo after giant war, though they came to know from the gods that he is safe. And Logan another member of the seven is busy with his praetor duties in New Rome.

Piper turned facing her back to the sea, she saw a suspicious looking lean bearded man with long hair snatching her burger from the table. Her jaw dropped!, she was about to shout, but he looked so thin and frail.

He casually glanced towards her direction, he made a jerking movement, he looked like a deer caught in headlights, not expecting her to look back at him. Under the moonlight, she could see the man's face clearly now, a long ugly looking scar was running across his face, with his yellowish white shirt and worn away jeans, he looked out of place.

He smiled at her guiltily, face becoming red, _is he blushing?._ Piper could sense people's expressions and feelings very well being the daughter of Aphrodite and all.

He increased his stride towards the exit lane and vanished among the bustling crowd.

"What the? " Piper shouted out flabbergasted by what transpired in front of her eyes.

"Pipes.." Jason sounded nervously.

Piper was silent too shocked to speak.

"What's happening? is it a monster? tell me, i am nearby, i am flying out right now." Jason speaking loudly.

Jason's nervous and loud voice brought her out of the stupor.

"No need to be a superman, Jason, everythings fine" Piper chided him. Jason always wanted to show off, especially to her.

"Nothing?" Jason in a relaxed tone.

"Yeah, a homeless just man stole my burger, though there is something about him i can't put a finger to, it's like i have seen him somewhere before. " Piper replied trying to remember where she had seen that homeless man.

Jason laughed, she too joined.

"A hobo, ha!, that's what happens when you order food without any of us present. A hobo delivered my revenge." He joked.

Piper rolled her eyes, they could never get bored of each other. She smiled giddily.

"I am hungry and i have to eat a lot more than i usually do and you know why? " Piper countered.

"I know"

"Anyway, will reach in another fifteen minutes, be safe,bye"

"Bye" Piper replied back and put back her mobile and reached her table.

She spotted the menu, picked it up and scanned it, but this time decided to wait.

The first to arrive were Frank and Hazel. They had married recently.

Frank is wearing a red t-shirt, which is too tight for him, ended up making him look like a gym teacher. Hazel in her black sleeveless dress stretched till her knees.

They both walked in hand in hand, smiling. She too lit up meeting her distant friends in person. They didn't meet in person often as often as she would liked to, the last time they met was last year during the Titan war anniversary, of which both Piper and the couple are not part of or aware of.

After their seating and exchange of pleasantries, Hazel spoke up:

"Where's Annabeth?"

"Oh, she messaged me a while back, told me to start without her, something about work, yada yada.." Piper replied.

"Still a workaholic, isn't she? "

"Yes, after her recent break-up, she is distracting herself even more with work" Piper replied with concern in her voice.

"Maybe you can talk to your Mom about sprucing up her love life" Hazel asked with a sly grin.

Piper blushed. Jason is reaching towards her.


End file.
